Willie Dixon with Memphis Slim

Willie Dixon with Memphis Slim

Memphis Slim
Memphis Slim (3 September, 1915 in Memphis, Tennessee – 24 February, 1988 in Paris, France) was a blues pianist and singer. His birth name was John Len Chatman although he himself claimed to be born Peter Chatman (the name he gave himself in honour of his father Peter Chatman Sr. when he first recorded for Okeh in 1940). He composed the blues standards “Every Day I Have the Blues” and “Mother Earth”. Memphis Slim got his start playing the blues at the Midway Café Read more on Last.fm

Memphis Slim
Memphis Slim (3 September, 1915 in Memphis, Tennessee – 24 February, 1988 in Paris, France) was a blues pianist and singer. His birth name was John Len Chatman although he himself claimed to be born Peter Chatman (the name he gave himself in honour of his father Peter Chatman Sr. when he first recorded for Okeh in 1940). He composed the blues standards “Every Day I Have the Blues” and “Mother Earth”.

Memphis Slim got his start playing the blues at the Midway Café, at 357 Beale Street (southeast corner of Fourth and Beale Streets) in Memphis in 1931. Two years before his death, Memphis Slim was named a Commander in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of France. Memphis Slim died on 24 February, 1988 in Paris, France at the age of 72. During his lifetime, he cut over 500 recordings and influenced blues pianists that followed him for decades.
Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon (born July 1, 1915, Vicksburg, Miss., U.S.-died Jan.

29, 1992, Burbank, Calif.) was a U.S. musician who influenced the emergence of electric blues and rock music. In 1936 Dixon moved from his native Mississippi to Chicago, won an Illinois Golden Gloves boxing championship, and began selling his songs. He played double bass in several bands before joining Chess Records.

His lively compositions, which he sold for as little as $30, included “Little Red Rooster,” “You Shook Me,” and “Back Door Man”; many were later recorded by Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley, and the Rolling Stones. Dixon toured widely throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Album: ‘Please Come Home!’
Recorded live in Paris, this has the two blues legends accompanying each other (Slim on piano, Dixon on bass) and trading lead vocals, backed by drummer Phillipe Combelle. It’s not a landmark event in either of the legends’ distinguished recording careers, but it’s a nice enough outing with a friendly, low-key tone.

Slim recorded a lot of LPs in the early ’60s, often as a solo pianist/vocalist, and this is frankly more lively than his norm for the era, if for nothing else than the fact that he’s playing in a band. The Dixon-sung tracks are interesting inasmuch as he didn’t record much during this period, though he’s really adequate at best as a singer. When Slim sings, he sticks mostly to self-penned material; the Dixon-fronted cuts may stir some curiosity among blues fans due to the inclusion of some of Willie’s more obscure compositions, like the novelty-tinged “African Hunch with a Boogie Beat.” _review by Richie Unterberger
Album: 'Willies Blues' Review by Stephen Cook
According to the original liner notes, this 1959 Willie Dixon session was cut during a two hour span in between flights. This certainly explains the relaxed, jam session feel of the recordings.

Unfortunately, the songs come out sounding sluggish and stilted at times; this is partly due, no doubt, to the makeshift nature of the date, but also, more surprisingly, because of drummer Gus Johnson's overly slick and formalized playing. On top of this, one has to contend with Dixon's less-then-inspired vocals -- it's Dixon's writing talents and A&R savvy in the blues world that warrant him a place in the pantheon, not his skills at the microphone. That all said, this still is an enjoyable disc to listen to, not least of all because of the quality of Dixon's many originals and the freshness of pianist Memphis Slim's playing. And while the vaudevillian comedy of a song like "Built for Comfort" can be traced to Dixon's earlier pop R&B work with the Big Three Trio, rougher blues standouts like "Go Easy" and "Move Me" lead back to the Chicago blues world Dixon shared with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.

Not a first disc for curious listeners, but certainly a pleasant enough addition to the blues lover's collection.
Album: 'Please Come Home' Review by Richie Unterberger
Recorded live in Paris, this has the two blues legends accompanying each other (Slim on piano, Dixon on bass) and trading lead vocals, backed by drummer Phillipe Combelle. It's not a landmark event in either of the legends' distinguished recording careers, but it's a nice enough outing with a friendly, low-key tone. Slim recorded a lot of LPs in the early '60s, often as a solo pianist/vocalist, and this is frankly more lively than his norm for the era, if for nothing else than the fact that he's playing in a band. The Dixon-sung tracks are interesting inasmuch as he didn't record much during this period, though he's really adequate at best as a singer.

When Slim sings, he sticks mostly to self-penned material; the Dixon-fronted cuts may stir some curiosity among blues fans due to the inclusion of some of Willie's more obscure compositions, like the novelty-tinged "African Hunch with a Boogie Beat."
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